[hendaz]

hi just a quick question, whilst i was browing microsoft vista on the net i noticed there are two different versions the 32bit version and 64bit version but whats the difference?

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32 bit is the most coomon version, all software is compatible. the 64bit makes use of 64 bit compatible processors and is said to be faster. but downside is many games are not 64bit compatible yet that will come along with newer vista compatible games

[Mr.Logic]

32 bit is the most coomon version, all software is compatible. the 64bit makes use of 64 bit compatible processors and is said to be faster. but downside is many games are not 64bit compatible yet that will come along with newer vista compatible games

[warriorscot]

Pretty much everything including games will run on 64 bit as its backwards compatible with 32bit and there wont be a decrease in performance. True 64bit applications will have better performance than 32bit ones but there arent that many of them around.

[admin]

64-bit also requires digitally signed drivers, and will prevent malicious code from accessing certain areas of the CPU to cause a buffer-overrun. It's more secure, but the current lack of digitally signed drivers are a real problem. You also can't upgrade to 64-bit, it has to be a clean install.

If you buy the full retail, or retail upgrade versions of Vista you'll get both the 32 and 64 bit versions. I'd wait and install the 64-bit version when driver and application support is better.